How to Mitigate Shedding in Spring and Other Tips for Taking Care of Your Pet’s Fur

The days are getting warmer and our dogs and cat starts to shed. This has a negative impact on your household with all the hair. Have you found a way to reduce the contamination with hair at least a bit and speed up the process of shedding?  

Pets start to change winter fur for summer fur. Hair is everywhere at home, there are balls of hair in the corners of rooms and under furniture and it starts to get out of our control even though we clean our homes every day, the consumption of pet hair removers increases and it is almost impossible to wear black clothes. All of you definitely know that. Let’s look at some tips how to mitigate shedding.

Of course, everything starts with quality and balanced diet. Without necessary nutrients, your pet neither its fur will do well. Food should be easily digestible, i.e. grain-free, with the largest proportion of meat in a perfect case. Skin health and fur quality and shine may be supported by food supplements. Salmon oil is great for this purpose, for example. A good choice is also zinc or biotin.

We also shouldn’t forget about regular and suitable care. Comb your companions regularly. It is particularly important for dogs living in flats that often shed during the whole year. Combing also helps with spreading sebum on the fur which partially reduces its falling out. At the time of shedding, combing might be necessary every day.

Always use quality products designed especially for dogs or cats and choose the right comb carefully on the basis of the type of fur. If you choose a wrong one, you might harm the undercoat or fur structure. A keeper or a pet shop worker might help you with the decision. Generally, it can be said that for coarse hair, hoof knives are suitable, and for soft hair, a brush glove is suitable. Rather use a deshedding comb for long-haired dogs and a pin brush for short-haired dogs. Soft brushes from natural fibres and combs are suitable for cats, some types of fur only need suede cloth.

You may bath the dog at the end of the period of shedding, the dead hair will stay in the bath and it will make combing easier. However, do not bath it too often, it might adversely influence the fur quality and its self-cleaning ability.

Sufficient drinking is also very important. Dried skin leads to increased shedding. An adult dog should drink about 45 ml of water for 1 kilogram of its weight. When under load, doing sports or in hot weather, it should be more, of course.

If you pay more attention to your pet’s fur in this period, you’ll often comb them and help it with food supplements besides quality dog food, it doesn’t only help your household and clothes, you can also shorten the whole process of coat renewal.

Related articles

How rescue dogs are trained

In the previous article, we wrote about what rescuing people entails and which dog breeds are suitable for searching for people in collapsed buildings. This topic is so interesting that we decided to focus even more on dog training itself, i.e. on the...

Cats are not vegetarians! What belongs to a cat bowl?

Let’s be clear, cats are carnivores by nature.  They love meat. It is completely natural for them. Meat must be the basis of their daily nutrition. A cat cannot live without meat! Cats instinctively prefer foods high in meat. Feeds with meat aroma and...

Dogs to the rescue - How are rescue dogs trained?

There are questions that run through a person’s mind upon seeing dogs searching for people lost in the woods, stuck under the rubble of a collapsed building or drowning in a reservoir. How difficult is it for a dog to find such people? Can I train my...

How to proceed when a dog runs astray?

It is an unenviable situation no four-legged companion´s owner would like to get into. When your dog runs astray during a walk, for example because it discovers a hole in the fence or senses another animal that catches its attention, many of us panic...

Physiotherapy-based defense training fundamentals

We, humans, do take care of our bodies and our health. If our knee hurts, we go to the orthopaedist, if our back hurts for a long time, we probably start considering physiotherapy. The need to go to inspections regularly increases with the level of...

Dogs at shows: What Does It Take?

At dog shows, many dog lovers meet to show off with their beloved pets of pure breed. However, such events are not only beauty pageants as they could seem. They are also important for breeding and for pure-bred dog to mate. What happens on such shows...

Christmas Dinner for Your Pets

One of the most important parts of Christmas is Christmas Eve’s dinner. For example in the Czech Republic, it usually includes fish soup, fried carp or schnitzel and potato salad. However, the most important thing is that all loved ones should be at...

Original Christmas Gifts for Cats

At Christmas, we want to make our loved ones, those who are our loyal companions throughout the whole year, happy. It also applies to our furry friends. If you have a cat at home and you are thinking about what to give it at Christmas, we have a...